MV ''Queen of the Oceans'' is a owned by

Seajets Seajets is a Greek/ Cypriot ferry company operating passenger and freight ferry services in the Aegean Sea. History Seajets was established in 1989. Today, it operates a fleet of 14 high speed vessels, and 3 conventional Ro-Ro ferries which serv ...

, a Greek/

Cypriot Cypriot (in older sources often "Cypriote") refers to someone or something of, from, or related to the country of Cyprus. * Cypriot people, or of Cypriot descent; this includes: **Armenian Cypriots **Greek Cypriots **Maronite Cypriots **Turkish C ...

ferry company. She was built by Fincantieri in Monfalcone, Italy and measures . She entered service in February 2000 as ''Ocean Princess'' for Princess Cruises before being transferred to P&O Cruises in 2002, operating as ''Oceana'' until 2020. ''Queen of the Ocean'' is a

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They often share a ...

to other ''Sun-''class ships, , , and .

History

2000–2002: ''Ocean Princess''

''Oceana'' was originally ordered by P&O to serve in the Princess Cruises fleet. She was named by Ali MacGraw and Ryan O'Neal and entered service as ''Ocean Princess'' on 16 February 2000. During the winter season, ''Ocean Princess'' was positioned in the southern

Caribbean The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...

, while in summer she operated in Alaskan waters. Shortly after her launch, P&O demerged its cruise ship operations and ''Ocean Princess'' came under the ownership of

P&O Princess Cruises P&O Princess Cruises plc (stock symbol in London and NYSE: POC) was a shipping company that existed between 2000 and 2003, operating the P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, P&O Cruises Australia, A'Rosa Cruises, AIDA Cruises and Ocean Village brande ...

, whilst continuing to serve in the Princess Cruises fleet.

2002–2020: ''Oceana''

In November 2002, ''Ocean Princess'' entered service with P&O Cruises, operating from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Her official naming ceremony took place in Southampton, England on 21 May 2003. She was christened by Anne, Princess Royal. In 2003, P&O Princess Cruises merged with Carnival Corporation to become Carnival Corporation & plc. As a result, ''Oceana'' came under the ownership of Carnival UK, but continued to operate with the P&O Cruises fleet. ''Oceana'' was last renovated from 29 November and 17 December 2017 after she underwent a £31 million refit at the Blohm+Voss shipyard in Hamburg. Technical work and public area refurbishment were undertaken. On 7 July 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, P&O announced that it had sold ''Oceana'' to an undisclosed buyer.

2020–present: ''Queen of the Oceans''

On 8 July 2020, Greek newspaper Naftemporiki reported that the Iliopoulos family, who leads Seajets, was considering purchasing ''Oceana'' to begin cruise operations. The reports were later confirmed after ''Oceana'' was delivered to Seajets on 21 July 2020 in

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. The former ''Oceana'' was later spotted with the Union flag on her bow painted over and bearing a new name, ''Queen of the Oceans'', while docked in

Design

As ''Oceana'', the vessel had 10 passenger decks. Passenger facilities included 12 bars and four restaurants, including an open-air restaurant. Other facilities included a gym, sports court, casino, golf simulator, a spa, four swimming pools, and the main entertainment venue, a 530-seat theatre. File:Oceana’s Atrium.jpg, Atrium on ''Oceana'' File:Oceana’s Lido Deck.jpg, Pool deck on ''Oceana''

References

External links

Official Web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Queen of the Oceans Ships of Seajets Ships of P&O Cruises Ships built in Monfalcone Ships built by Fincantieri 1999 ships Ships of Princess Cruises Passenger ships of Bermuda